Word: santas
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...Ride's "ringa-linga-linga-ding-dong-ding") and the Big Band era to the Christmas hits of the previous two decades (no spirituals here) and supplements the tambourine-and-drum pulse of the Spector sound with chimes, sleigh bells and a million maracas. The Crystals' propulsive version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" might be my favorite Christmas song ever. This is a meticulous Christmas album: you'll hear rarely used intros and second choruses to go along with the excellent sax solos and samplings of faux Mozart. Like his singers, Spector was still...
...Crosby had "White Christmas," but the singing cowboy from Tioga, Texas, scored three huge Christmas hits in three years: "Here Comes Santa Claus" (#9 in 1947), "Rudolph" (#1 in 1949) and "Frosty the Snowman" (#7 in 1950). These were part of the Christmas novelty-song trend, which included "All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." (Johnny Marks, who wrote "Rudolph," rode another trend in 1957 with the not-very-rockin' "Jingle Bell Rock.") This album, reissued in 2000, lassos together all of Autry's seasonal singles...
...What kind of Christmas album would rock 'n roll's first superstar make? Well, the opening track, a Leiber-Stoller R&B number called "Santa Claus Is Back in Town," sounded a declaration of war against the Christmas-music tradition. As Elvis growled and screamed it: "Hang up your pretty stockin's / Turn off de light / Santa Claus is comin' / Down the old chimney tonight." Sexually explicit enough for ya? The title track - which lyrically is just another song about being alone or lonely on a holiday that's meant to reunite loved ones - was sung...
...compositions ("Don't Forget to Feed the Reindeer," "Christmas Carousel" and "The Tree"). Lee could bring as much sex to singing as Elvis; but whereas he was singing from the gut and the gutter, she was the voice of mature eroticism. She sexualizes a neutral song like "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (undermelody: "Big fat Santa's on his way"), turning Saint Nick into a sugar daddy. Mostly, though, the mood is one of longing and regret, which suits a vocal style so intimate it was practically internal. Her beautiful "White Christmas" emphasizes the distance between the singer...
...Most Packed Digital Camera Speaking of digital cameras, the Nikon CoolPix S7c is really my favorite compact model of the season. It is as reliable as the Canons, and for $350, carries more bells than Santa's sleigh. Its selling feature is Wi-Fi for online photo management, but some even cooler features are deeply buried: the time-lapse shooting feature lets you take pictures say, every five seconds, or every hour. Each shot is added as a frame to a little movie, so you can duplicate, at home, those memorable videos depicting flowers opening, or a building job getting...